Jan van den Berg

j11g.com

Tag: management

  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey

    When I started college in 1998 this was literally one of the first books I had to buy. It was part of a — cheaply thrown together — five-pack of paperback management book ‘classics’. And my particular copy is printed on recycled paper, with boring frugal typesetting, and even has a Dutch translation error on the back. Not normally a book you would hold on to for 21 years.

    The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey (1989) – 381 pages

    Management mambo jambo

    We had a couple of classes on the book and I read parts of it. And I clearly remember thinking: well, this is all just common sense! Whoever wrote this was just stating obvious things like: ‘being proactive’ and think ‘win-win’. Anyone could have written this!

    However it turned out that the lessons from this book returned to me in one way or the other over the course of my career. And I started seeing the true value and meaning (application is everything). And when I started a higher management education course a couple of years ago, everything came together. I was assigned a personal coach who (so he later on declared) was a Covey trained professional. So he coached me on the Covey teachings and things really fell into place. And I have internalised the key lessons since.

    This year I decided to read the book cover to cover again. And with a bit more experience I can now state that this book is almost just perfect.

    The seven habits are not a quirky catchy marketing thing — although that undoubtedly had an effect in the successful marketing and branding of the book. Also the word effective has a different connotation than get rich quick. This is not that kind of book. The ‘seven habits’ is a complete and — what’s a better word for holistic — approach to leading an effective and fulfilling life.

    Seven habits’ legacy

    Over the years I have read many other management books. And there is a clear line to be drawn between Drucker, Grove and also Allen about what exactly makes good management (and yes, I read all of them). Covey holds a very large and distinct place in that lineage.

    But even more modern management ideas like Simon Sinek seem to share a direct link to Covey (start from the inside). Or the famous Ray Dalio biography (principles are key to everything) don’t really bring new principles to the table, just application. Because, Covey already covered the principles.

    Apart from going for a complete approach, the book also perfectly balances between being abstract (here’s a thought to ponder) and practical (literally start doing this now!) at the same time. Which is a very fine line to balance and something very few books manage. Management books usually tend to be one or the other.

    Many management books have been (poorly) written about just one or a couple of the seven habits. And although some might have some merit, they usually lack the complete approach and relative context in which Covey presents the habits. Because everything is connected with everything — take one out thing and everything breaks.

    The seven habits is usually marketed as a business book. My Dutch copy translates the title to ‘habits of leadership’ while the actual English title deals with ‘habits of people‘. That is quite a difference! So I don’t think Covey necessarily indented it to be a business book. A lot of examples are also about his direct close family and other non-business relations. Which is something I do find quirky and not a big enough sample size to be empirical evidence: this is one of my few criticisms. But the examples tend to hold up, not because Covey says so but because they are generic and realistic enough for anyone to relate to.

    TLDR: I love Covey and I think everyone should read this book. Because it is about being a better human being.

  • High Output Management – Andrew S. Grove

    This classic management book started off with two confusing and underwhelming chapters, but ended up being one of the best three management books I have ever read. And I would highly recommend it to any manager.

    High Output Management – Andrew S. Grove (1983) – 243 pages

    If you run into a book recommendation thread on Hacker News or someplace else where tech savvy people congregate, chances are, High Output Management will be mentioned. Published in 1983, updated in 1995 and revived in 2015 with high prise from Ben Horowitz, this book seems to have an enduring allure and impact on tech managers and the tech industry in general.

    The 47 year old, down to earth, polymath Andy Grove was already an experienced and successful leader at Intel when he wrote this book. But nobody, probably not even Andy himself, could have predicted what was yet to come for Intel. Namely the explosion of personal computing and the internet, catapulting Intel into becoming one of the most valuable technology companies in the world. And consequently confirming Andy’s theories and practices. I think this explains part of the lasting appeal to tech people.

    But most of the appeal is in the words itself. Andy has a very direct and practical approach to dissecting hard managerial themes and is crystal clear on what is important and where (and what) the leverage is. Many, many management books have been written since, and even when I think there is room for editing in this book, I still haven’t read a more comprehensive collection of valuable management lessons put together in such a clear and concise manner.

  • Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary

    Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary

    This book had been sitting on my to-read list for way too long! But I finally found a second hand copy, so here we go!

    You could say this is the official autobiography of Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. The Operating System that changed the world! You can wake me up in the middle of the night to talk about operating systems. So this book is right up my alley.

    It’s funny to think that more time has passed since this book came out (16 years), than the time there was between the birth of Linux and the release of the book (10 years). So an update would be welcome, however history = history and this book does a good job of documenting the rise of Linux. Even in 2001 it was clear that Linux was a huge force to be reckoned with and that it would only grow bigger from there. But I think few would suspect Linux would be the most used operating system in the world (largely) because of smartphones i.e. Android. Because people were still talking about the desktop in 2001.

    Celeb life.

    The book is structured around alternating chapters written by Linus himself and the writer David Diamond. It follows a chronological timeline. From young Linus to Linux, to underground celebrity status, to bonafide celebrity, to riches and world domination. The story is told in either conversation form between David and Linus or just plain old retelling facts. Because in 2001 things were relatively ‘fresh’ the book has some nice intricate details. Details that would probably be lost when you write a book about this subject 20 years from now. And that is probably what I liked most about it. I was familiar with most of the history, but this book does a great job of filling in the details to get a complete picture from a first degree account. Also there is quit a bit of room towards the end where Linus shares his thoughts on Intellectual Property, copyright and becoming rich (not Bill Gates rich, but still rich). Which was really interesting!

    Here are some take-aways from the book:

    • Linus is of course a programming genius. He wrote Linus when he was around 21. I would guess only a handful of people in the world were able to do what he did. And he did it at a young age. (He probably wouldn’t like this comparison: but it reminded me a lot of Bill Gates who wrote a BASIC interpreter when he was even younger.)
    • But the genius also manifests itself in the ability to make good design calls (very early on). I would even go so far as to state that his programming ability is surpassed by his talent to make the right choice (design, technical etc.)
    • He has proven this again, by unleashing git (the software versioning tool) to the world in 2005. Which made quite an impact on software development in general (e.g. it gave rise to Github) So not only did he start one of the first software revolutions, he also started the second! With git he doubled down on demonstrating the knack for making the right choices.
    • Even though he famously fell out with professor Tanenbaum, I love that he still states Tanenbaums’ book Operating Systems Design and Implementation as the book that changed his life.
    • He comes from a journalist family who were straight-up communist sympathizers and part of a Finnish minority that speaks Swedish. They also dragged young Linus to Moscow on occasion. And his grandfather was bit of a famous poet in Finland.
    • With this communist background in mind it is funny to think he is very much a pragmatist and not an idealist. But maybe exactly because of this. It’s a very conscious decision and he seems to have thought about it a lot and it permeates everything he does.
    • There is a lot of self-deprecating humor in this book.

      Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman
    • There are quite a few sexual references. Linus starts the book with stating his view on the meaning of life: using sex as example.
    • The Tanenbaum discussion was about technical choices. The success of Linux sort of gave Linus the upper hand in the discussion. I think this irked Tanenbaum but I also suspect Tanenbaum felt that if he had just released his OS Minix to the world in the same manner Linus had, we probably wouldn’t have had Linux.
    • Stallman gave a talk at Linus’ university about GNU and this led to Linus choosing GPL as the license. And of course gcc was the programming language Linux was written in (developed by Stallman).
    • And this is key, Linus acknowledges this, his project came at the exact right time. A year later and someone else would have probably already done it. Or we would be all be using *BSD (who were still fighting other battles). A year early and no-one would have batted an eye, because too few people online were around to notice.
    • So the timing consist of 3 factors coming together: hence the word timing. The GNU license (invented by Stallman), the availability of cheap 386 processors and the internet. Take away either one and things would be different.
    • Most of all I think that the internet was key, because Linus found his co-creators there and feedback. But also because Linux became the de facto operating system for internet servers and was born around the same time the www was born. This is no coincidence. The internet en Linux grew up together.
    • Also one last point that proves he has good gut feeling, in 2001 he predicted the ubiquity of the smartphone:

    The title of the book is ‘Just for Fun’. And it is written with room for jokes and lighthearted thoughts. But there is also plenty of serious thought on ideals and pragmatism. But fun is the general theme throughout Linus’ life and the development of Linux. The fun that you get from following your curiosity, working hard on making it happen, and caring about what you do. The pragmatic approach of Linus to everything he does seems to create a sense of flow and he follows that flow and has fun with it. This is also backed by how an enormous project like the Linux kernel, which is the biggest software project in the world, is managed. The loose structure that dictates the development comes from flow.

    So all in all it’s a very fun book to read! Even if it’s from 2001 and a lot has happened since. I think there could be an updated version. Or you could ask yourself: “who, in 2017, is the equivalent of 1991 Torvalds?”. So, whose biography will we be reading in 10 years time? My money is on Vitalik Buterin (literally, I own Ethereum). He is a current day one-of-a-kind genius whose technology will probably change the world. Get it?

  • Business Model Canvas

    Business Model Canvas

    You are probably aware that there are a *lot* of ways to visualize or model business and management related things. There are few fields of expertise with so many models and theories (sure, math and physics but they are older).

    There is even a book that specifically tries to list the most well-know models. There are already over 100 models in this book and the writer told me that the next update will feature even more! Most models have solid reasoning behind it. It might be easy to dismiss them as blah-blah or just common sense. But you should always try to think of a model as a tool, a means, and not a purpose by itself. The tool itself is not the goal, the tool can help you reach your goal. So a model is like a hammer and you are the carpenter. And it should help you gain insight, enable you to communicate key parts of what it is you’re doing or shed some light when decisions need to be made. And most importantly: grow your business.
    So it helps to know your tools. Know when or why to apply a model and how it can help you. One particular model I came across recently is the Business Model Canvas. And I like it a lot.

    It is a bit different. The idea behind the BMC is explained in a book called Business Model Generation. You can already tell when you hold the book that it is different. The landscape shape will stick out of any bookcase and it has beautiful typography. It is written by Alex Osterwalder but not by him alone. The book is created in a sort of crowd sourced way. Over 400 business and management experts provided Alex their input. I know what your thinking: that this model has become overly complex. But the opposite is true, this process has resulted in a very clear, usable, understandable, adaptable model you can use to visualize and challenge what it is your are doing with your business.

    The template for the model canvas has 9 boxes. Each box is a question and you need to answer it. (This is the BMC. Really!)

    Here is what I like about it:

    • There are only 9 questions.
    • It fits on a single piece of paper: easy to share and read.
    • You move trough it from right to left. This flow helps your thought process.
    • You can update, add, delete the model as you learn new things. It is not static. Your business is not static either. This models understands that.
    • You can fill in the model yourself or within a team. And because the model fits on a piece of paper, you can have discussion about it, without it being to complex for others to understand.
    • You can use the model for subsets. Fill it for specific use-cases, products, markets or the overall business. The BMC is flexible like that.
    • When filling in the model with different people for specific use-cases, you can switch up parameters. Like: what if our price was lower? What if we didn’t do things online? Asking those questions, will challenge the BMC and thought process and the ultimate question (see last bullet).
    • It asks all the important / relevant questions, what/who is your input / output. If it is not asked, it is not important.
    • It tries to work towards answering one specific and the most important question of all: what kind of value are you adding?

    Answering this question is of course answering the reason for your company’s’ existence and/or (potential) success. The BMC is released under a Creative Common license, so you are free to use it. Of course there is a lot more to tell about the BMC. Like what the next steps are after this or how to transform business when the BMC implies you should. Or how it ties into the Value Proposition Canvas. But for now this should get you started!